"27% of Americans have suffered abusive conduct at work; another 21% have witnessed it;
72% are aware that workplace bullying happens".

These additional statistics are startling:

“In a prevalence study of U.S. workers, 41.4% of respondents reported
experiencing psychological aggression at work in the past year representing 47
million U.S. workers (Schat, Frone &Kelloway, 2006). The research found that 13%, or nearly 15
million workers, reported experiencing psychological aggression on a weekly
basis.”

So, what exactly
constitutes “Office Bullying”?

At its most basic, Workplace Bullying is the on-going mistreatment of oneor more co-workers by one or more office bully. The key word here is “on-going”. It is not an isolated incident, but is aimed
at repeatedly causing harm to the intended victim.

According to the Workplace Bullying Institute, Office Bullying consists of any one or more of the following behaviors:

Verbal abuse

Offensive conduct/behaviors (verbal and non-verbal)
which are threatening, humiliating, or intimidating

Work interference or sabotage that prevents the
intended victim from completing their work duties

It takes away from the environment most
business owners are trying to create – an environment where each employee is
encouraged and rewarded.While it may be hard for many of us to believe “adults” bully, they
do.

Photograph by Ocean/Corbis via businessweek.com

We have all heard much
discussion and emphasis on the need to stop bullying in
our schools. Workplace Bullying, however, has not been
given the same priority.

One of the
main reasons for this is that, in many cases, we do not acknowledge Office Bullying evenoccurs. Or maybe we believe adults
should be able to “take care of" the problem themselves.The reality is, Office Bullying does occur and any time we allow ourselves to put blame
or responsibility solely on the “victim”, we all lose.

I Challenge All of Us
to Believe We Can Make a Difference. More
importantly, I Challenge Us All to Take Action.